Kitchen & Bath Business May/June 2021 - 52

Vertical beadboard behind the cubbies and a
wooden bench add texture. Visible wall space was
painted blue, and on the ceiling, Case added a
whimsical light fixture and colorful wallpaper.
" Ceilings can be blank and boring, or they can
be fun, " said Mann. " The wallpaper ties the whole
space together. "
Case completed the mudroom in spring of
2019, and by December of that year, the clients
had signed a contract for a kitchen renovation
to take place in spring 2020. The project was
planned pre-pandemic, and they moved forward. On the front end of the supply chain issues
that would come, the team did not experience
any problems with the project and wrapped up
in June.
PIVOTING AROUND REVISED KITCHEN GOALS

In addition to creating a larger kitchen, the project
included redesigning the family room, refreshing
the existing powder room and creating a gaming
room. The dining room would be incorporated
into the kitchen and replaced with less-formal
banquette dining, and a Dutch door that opens
to the backyard was added.
The expanded footprint opened up new possibilities, like bigger appliances, and there was room
to tailor the kitchen around the family's needs.
The clients asked for as much refrigeration as possible and expressed interest in a colorful range that
would serve as a focal point.
Most important was the idea to incorporate
two islands into the now sizeable kitchen - one
" kid island " next to the gaming room and one for
the parents.

ABOVE This kitchen has seri-

ous amounts of cold storage,
including a 54-in. refrigerator/
freezer combination and two
beverage coolers.

RIGHT A bigger footprint made
it possible to push appliances
to the max - like this 48-in.
statement range and large
ventilation hood.

OPENING UP THE SPACE AND
MEETING UNUSUAL CHALLENGES

To update the footprint, the designers had to
remove a non-load-bearing wall between the
kitchen and dining room and remove an unsightly
header separating the former kitchen and breakfast space.To maintain support, the team installed
a new LVL inline beam inside the ceiling.
" This house is a little quirky, " said Mann, who explained that as they snaked
the old refrigerator wall to look inside, they found some concealed plumbing,
which was a surprise and required a change order in the field.
The adjustment was worth it because it tripled the kitchen size. Where it
had been about 10 by 10 feet, it became 30 by 12 feet, making 54 inches of
cold storage possible.
" There was no way we could have added that much refrigeration if we
had kept the kitchen the same size, " said Mann. " They needed and wanted
that much. "
Planning for the 36-in. refrigerator and 18-in. freezer columns required
extra steps, too.The cabinet vendor was concerned about warping and sagging
of the doors and would not warranty a 54-in.-wide cabinet above the built-in
appliances.There are now two narrower cabinets above the columns, but they
were designed to look like one piece.

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Kitchen & Bath Business May/June 2021

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